Big Boys Don't Cry
by Lumiellie
Summary: One small event from Severus Snape's childhood changes his life forever.
1. Big Boys Don't Cry

Outside, it was raining.

Inside the dilapidated house, Severus Snape was holding his tears in, not daring to let them spill out of his eyes. He was in immense pain; Tobias wouldn't stop beating him. All the black-haired boy wanted was for the pain to end.

He was sure both his ankles were broken. Severus was also sure that something in his abdomen had exploded, Tobias had kicked him near his guts, causing immediate pain. The worst part, was his head. Tobias Snape, the man he didn't dare call his father, had kicked him in the head. He couldn't remember the last time his head had hurt this badly.

All he had done was trip over his own feet while bringing his father a meal. This meal, that the eight year old Severus had worked his heart out on, had been a surprise for his father. Every night, Tobias would force Severus to make a meal for him, but this time Severus had done it without being asked to. Tobias had been surprised, smiling for what seemed like the first time in forever, but that all changed when one misstep led to a young boy falling to the ground.

After this, Severus had been pushed to the floor where his father had kicked him in the stomach, each repetitive blow raining down on his sensitive organs. Then Snape had flipped him over and kicked him in the back and legs at least twenty times, muttering, "Stupid, goddamned child."

After those blows, Severus had been kicked in the head, causing immense pain. This led to Severus screaming, but he wouldn't let the tears fall out of his eyes. He would not cry, not matter what the cost. For if he cried, each tear would lead to another, eventually leading to a rainstorm. And big boys don't cry. The tears went back into his eyes and his emotions were now under control. Despite the pain, he would not let out the inevitable rainstorm.

Severus' eyes grew extremely heavy and he couldn't keep them longer. He thanked his "father" for finally stopping the abuse. The blows were no longer raining down on him, which relieved Severus. Everything around him grew hazy, and he wondered for a minute if he was dying. All the pain seemed to dissipate into thin air and no longer existed, making Severus content. Thinking to himself, Severus theorized, Well if this is death, then I'm glad it's coming. For once, I won't be able to feel pain and I could go to the Heaven that my teacher always talks about. Maybe if God is real, he could be my friend. I've never had a real friend before. No one has ever liked me that much. During morning tea, no one would ever hang out with me, because I smelled bad. If I could choose, I would have chosen to smell like daisies, but Tobias would never let me shower. But maybe everyone in Heaven would be my friend.

On the final thought, everything grew black for Severus and he felt himself drift slowly into unconsciousness.

Nurse Evans, a red-headed nurse with a heart-shaped face, looked at her newest patient, Severus Snape, with horror in her eyes. One of the neighbors had heard screaming coming from the child's house, and had decided to call the police. The malnourished boy had arrived via ambulance through the terrible rainstorm. She would kill someone if they had done that to either of her two daughters.

From what she had heard, the man that had done this to her patient was completely sober, meaning he had complete control over his actions. When the police had broken through the door, they had found the young boy laying near the front entrance, surrounded by a pool of his own blood. The mother had been found in a room, tied to a bed with next to nothing, unconscious. They were planning on charging the man with attempted murder, endangerment of a child, and child abuse. After this, the boy was going to be sent to an orphanage where he was likely going to live for eight or more years.

Nobody wants to adopt the kids that go through trauma.

Meanwhile, they had to put the boy into a coma. He had been kicked in the head which had given him a severe concussion, leading to brain swelling. Nurse Evans was afraid it would lead to brain damage for the boy who had already been through enough. Currently, the boy was going through exploratory stomach surgery as there was extreme bruising on the abdomen. She suspected a ruptured spleen and a bleeding liver, but it was too early to tell. Not only that, but both of the boy's tibias were broken, possibly leading to the child never reaching his full height.

What a terrible rainy day.

There was a man with greasy hair that went down to his shoulders. His obsidian eyes had evidently seen tragic and terrible things, yet that didn't matter.

The boy himself wanted to die. He knew he was in a coma and knew death was knocking at his door. Yet, that didn't matter. The man that he saw symbolized something bigger, the first time he had ever lived without the constant worries of his father raining blows down on him. He didn't want to wake up to face his father.

The older man approached him and tilted his chin up. The young Severus Snape looked at the man with fear in his eyes and asked, "Who are you? Why are you doing this?"

"Severus Snape, I am you from the future. However, I didn't experience the pain that you are experiencing right now, which makes you a brave boy." The child looked at the man expectantly. "However, I don't want you to give up now. I know you haven't had a friend yet, but I know deep inside how much you want to have a companion, someone you can trust. Soon, you'll meet your newest best friend, her name is Lily Evans and she has the most beautiful green eyes."

The eight-year-old was skeptical and glared at the man. "And how do I know this is true?"

"I just happen to know that it is. Promise me you'll wake up and I guarantee you'll have a better life."

The older Severus Snape stuck his pinky finger out, wrapping it around the childs pinky. "I pinky promise. I have never broken one of these before." The older man said, remembering the time he used to do this with Lily.

The child smiled and prepared to wake up.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **Words: 1106**

 **Category: Short Story**

 **Prompt: Rainstorm**

 **House: Gryffindor**

 **Position: Prefect**


	2. Unwritten

Juniper Evans returned home from a long nursing shift. She had witnessed a terrible abuse case, where a young boy by the name of Severus Snape had been beaten badly by his father. The poor child was currently fighting for his life in a medically induced coma. Thankfully, his father had received multiple charges, or Juniper would have seen to it herself.

Unfortunately, the boy was going to end up in an orphanage unless someone was willing to cater to the endless needs of the abused child. Mrs. Evans knew that no one would make the choice to do this, preferring not to waste their hard-earned money on a child. In fact, she was planning on adopting the child herself.

She had returned home to find her two daughters eating breakfast at the dining room table and her husband, Robert, reading the newspaper while sipping a cup of coffee. She slipped off her raincoat onto the coat rack and pulled off her muddy boots.

"Sorry I returned later than I should have," she apologized. "I couldn't bring myself to leave a terrible child abuse case."

Her older daughter, Petunia, dropped her fork from her hand, her mouth forming a perfect "o", whereas Lily, her younger daughter, had tears well up in her eyes.

Robert looked up at her with concern in his brown eyes and asked, "What was it?"

Juniper responded with, "An eight year old boy with two broken ankles, a ruptured spleen, a damaged liver and a severe concussion from where his father had hit him in the head. Poor child hadn't even deserved it."

"What kind of monster would do that to a child, Mother?" Petunia asked.

"I don't know, Petunia, but clearly not a very kind one."

"Anyways, the poor child needs a foster family. His mother is suffering from severe depression and doesn't have the money to take care of him anymore. The poor child is going to have to suffer in an orphanage and he's never had a true family." Juniper sighed with a lump in her throat.

"Mom, can't we adopt him?" Lily asked.

"Please Mom!" Petunia begged. "I'll make sure he feels welcome."

"Girls, adoption is a long process. We should first get to know the kid and then determine whether we will adopt him," Robert said.

"I agree with your father, girls, but tomorrow, depending on how he is feeling, you can come and visit him. I just need to go to bed before I fall asleep on my feet."

* * *

"Where am I?" Severus Snape wailed. He was laying in a hospital bed. Despite having been visited by a future version of himself, he was still rather confused. He couldn't even tell if that was real or not. He had dreamt of someone who claimed to be quite like him. That man had made a promise that he would meet someone he would grow to become good friends with.

The next thing he realized was that his head hurt quite badly. In fact, everything hurt. He felt absolutely terrible. To make everything worse, he was extremely dizzy and felt very nauseous.

"Nurse! Someone! Please," he cried, feeling ten times worse.

Unfortunately, no one came. He was extremely close to vomiting all over himself, but there was no one that would change that. As he threw up on himself, he couldn't stop crying and he wished he had a family that would comfort him whenever something like this happened.

When he finished after vomiting up nothing but bile, he felt filthy. Severus tried to get out of his bed so he could clean himself up. Sadly, he didn't remember that his ankles were broken, so when he stood up, he fell down and heard an alarm blare in his ears. When the door opened, he closed his eyes and wished he could just disappear.

A female nurse with auburn hair looked at the boy and developed a look of extreme pity on her face. "Severus, you should have called for one of us. None of us realized you had awoken from your coma."

"Well, I screamed for someone. No one come," Severus cried, his voice extremely rough from lack of use.

"Honey, we didn't hear you," Juniper said, pitying the boy. She lifted up the boy and put him back on the bed. "Severus, I'm going to have to change your shirt. I'm really sorry that no one heard you."

The nurse lifted up his shirt over his head and looked like she was shocked at the amount of faded scars on his stomach. She appeared to want to wrap the boy in a hug, but something made her change her mind.

Severus looked down at his stomach and noticed the new scar on his upper abdomen. "What's this?" he asked quietly, his voice wavering.

"It's a surgical scar. We had to take your spleen out because it was beyond repair, and unfortunately, that means you will have decreased immunity," Juniper replied, finding a new hospital shirt to put on her patient.

 _At least she didn't need to change my pants,_ Severus thought to himself. _That would be absolutely mortifying. I mean, she's at least thirty and she's a girl._

"Where is Tobias? Will he hurt me?" Severus asked.

"Is Tobias your father?" Juniper responded.

He nodded his head with a fearful look in his eyes. "He hurt me on the head."

"Well, you're never going back to him again. He's in jail now. In fact, you might come home to me and my family," Juniper said.

Severus felt the tears well up in his eyes. He would have a _family._ A family!

Even when Juniper was called away, he couldn't help but smile.

* * *

"Dad, when is Mom coming home with Severus?" Petunia asked, excited to meet the boy.

"I hope he likes the cookies we baked for him!" Lily said.

"I don't know when he's coming to our house, but he's going to have to go back to the hospital tonight," Robert said, hoping the two girls wouldn't force the child to stay overnight.

Despite being hurt two weeks ago, Severus was recovering at a miraculous pace. However, the two girls were unable to visit as soon as they had hoped because they had come down with the flu. This would be the first time Severus would meet the girls and Robert. The family was considering adoption, especially after Juniper would tell stories at the dinner table about Severus and how he never had a family. She'd also praise the sweet temperament of the boy, but she'd also noted that the boy was too quiet for someone of his age.

Lily sat on the couch, next to her sister, twirling her long red hair. She appeared to be bored out of her mind, but she was just extremely excited to meet the boy. Her sister also appeared to be restless and was fidgeting.

"I'm excited, Tuney," Lily admitted.

"So am I," her sister replied.

"Petunia and Lily, I know you girls are excited, but this boy is extremely shy and he may have a hard time interacting with you at first. Your mother also told me to let you know that he is terrified of sudden movement, raised voices, and he needs lots of support. Your mother and I have already talked about it and we're adopting him," Robert informed them.

"So I'm getting a brother?" Lily asked.

"Yes, you are," Robert replied. "We need to supply a loving home environment for him so he knows what it's like to have a loving family. So please, keep your arguments to yourselves, girls."

"Okay Dad," Petunia and Lily said in unison.

When they heard a knock at the door, both girls sat up. When Robert opened the door, Petunia looked extremely surprised to see a boy sitting in a wheelchair with casts on both ankles. She probably hadn't realized that the child would be _that_ injured, despite her mom telling her about it a couple of weeks ago. The two of them entered the house and the boy looked around skeptically.

* * *

"Hello Severus, I'm Petunia Evans," Petunia introduced herself.

"And I'm Lily Evans," Lily added.

Severus managed a quick wave all while thinking to himself, _So that guy in my dream said I would become best friends with a girl named Lily Evans. Maybe this is the girl. It has to be. She has the most dazzling green eyes which is what that guy said about her. Wow, her eyes are magnificent._

Severus looked at the girls with blinking eyes. He had never seen a home this clean before; he'd never been in someone else's home before. He couldn't help himself when he asked, "Is your house always this clean?"

"Of course it's clean. Why wouldn't it be?" Petunia blurted out.

This caused him to cover his head in his hands and start to whimper. He was vaguely aware that the woman took her daughter aside and whispered, "He's very sensitive to loud voices so please keep your voice down around him."

Petunia nodded, but he kept his head in his hands. "What's wrong?" Lily asked softly.

"Scared," Severus replied.

"Why are you scared?"

"Loud voices."

Severus peeked his head out of his hands to see something being brought to him. "What this?" he asked, never having seen this particular food item before.

"These are cookies, Severus. Lily and I baked them today just for you," Petunia said with pride.

 _Just for me?_ Severus thought to himself, _I've never received anything that is just for me before!_ Despite really wanting a cookie, Severus couldn't find the courage to take one off the plate. But he was brave enough to keep his face out of his hands.

Petunia, noticing the fear of the boy, took a smaller cookie off the plate and handed it to him. "Here, try this. Don't be afraid to ask me for more," she said.

Severus took a bite out of the cookie and began to realize how wonderful it tasted. All the flavours intermingled within his mouth, creating a symphony of wonderful flavours and colours. Everything was so sweet.

He smiled and that made Lily giggle. "You like it, don't you?"

Severus nodded, not able to trust his voice. There was a cookie crumb sticking to his chin and Petunia couldn't help but smile at this. The child had definitely warmed up a little bit

* * *

Meanwhile on the other side of the room, Robert and Juniper were chatting. "They seem to have amazing chemistry with one another," Robert admitted.

"Yeah, but I can see them getting into the typical sibling fights after this is all over. But hopefully at that time, Severus will have completely recovered and will be able to handle it emotionally, if not physically," Juniper said.

"Well, he seems to like the girls, which is important. And the girls wouldn't stop asking me when you were coming home, so I assume they like him as well."

"So what are your thoughts on adopting him?"

"I say we do it."

* * *

That night, Severus Snape was sleeping in the hospital when he began to have a nightmare.

 _Tobias was slapping his son everywhere on his bruised and battered body. "Daddy, please stop, please. I'll lose my magic if it means that I'll be more like you. A-and if I'm more like you, you'll stop beating me."_

" _Well, you are certainly nothing like your Father." Tobias screamed. "You've already shown magic and that discredits any resemblance you have with me."_

" _Please, Dad, you're really hurting me. Please stop. Please!"_

" _Maybe when you learn to show me some respect, I will."_

 _Tobias gripped the belt in his hand and whipped his son in the back with it. "Now count to one-hundred. You know the rules. If you lose count, we start all over. Now count!"_

Severus tried his hardest to bite his tongue and not scream out. He knew that his father would beat him if he managed to scream out, so he bit his tongue as hard as he could. Feeling the droplets of blood in his mouth, he shivered and he felt a hand on his back. This lead him to squeeze his eyes shut until he heard the comforting voice of Juniper,"It's going to be okay, Severus. You've been an unfortunate victim of child abuse, something that no child should ever experience. I understand that you're scared, but I promise, you're a part of our family. You'll get to eat cookies and play with toys. You'll get to make friends and I know that you will love it, I promise."

"I'm going to be safe?" Severus asked.

"You will always be safe."

 **As always, thanks for reading! I appreciate reviews (*cough cough*) always and your kind comments.**

 **Theme: Family**

 **Prompt: [Object] Cookies,** [ **Speech] "Well, you are certainly** **nothing like your Mother/Father."**

 **Word count: 2,117 words**

 **Position: Prefect #2**

 **House: Gryffindor.**


End file.
